A New Instrument
by ace-beef
Summary: AU: Jekyll and Hyde are two brothers facing the struggles of a modern UK secondary school. Jekyll was always a keen musician, and when he joined secondary school in year 7 he was eager to join some of the school's bands. However, Jekyll has only learnt to play the piano and he must learn a new instrument to play in the concert at the end of the year. Hyde wasn't as keen… one shot


"The flute?! You want to play the flute?! HA!" Hyde was laughing at the news that Jekyll had just told him. Jekyll's face fell and his head dropped to the piano keys in front of him when Hyde started laughing.

"It sounds nice and I'd love to make such a beautiful sound" Jekyll murmured, dejectedly.

"But it's such a giiirrrlly instrument, you'll be bullied even more" Hyde teased, making an effort to emphasise the word 'girly'. "You'd be better off with something like…a trumpet".

"Too loud" Jekyll moaned, miserably brushing some dust off of some of the keys at the top end of the piano and swinging his legs that didn't quite reach the floor.

"What about…" Hyde said slowly, pondering. "A violin?"

"Too screechy" Jekyll complained, looking up at his older brother, pulling a face. Hyde frowned, dark eyebrows falling over dark eyes in a look of complete concentration as he glanced off into the middle distance.

"Oboe! No wait, that sounds like a duck…a clarinet? Maybe? But they're sometimes seen as girly, but you could pull it off…" Hyde was listing various instruments, but then quickly finding faults with them, the main faults being that they were too big and heavy, or that they wouldn't suit his little brother when being played. Jekyll sighed.

"Hyde, I want to play the flute, I want to learn how to create the wonderful sound it can make and nothing you say will change my mind" Jekyll said, defiantly, folding his arms and frowning slightly up at Hyde. Hyde stopped his list and slowly looked back down at Jekyll, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you!" Hyde said, walking away from where his younger brother was sat and ruffling Jekyll's hair as he went, much to Jekyll's annoyance.

So Jekyll was bought a flute and started having lessons once a week during school lunchtimes on a Monday. Hyde was surprised to see that his younger brother kept up with practicing for twenty minutes to half an hour every day, if he learnt an instrument, he would probably get bored within the first week. _But then,_ Hyde thought to himself one day, _I'm not my brother am I?_

Bella first discovered about Jekyll's new hobby after he started practicing during one of the frequent skype calls between Bella and her boyfriend. They were discussing about the book they had started studying in English, which, to their surprise, they both thoroughly enjoyed. It was about a scientist who transformed into a hideous monster after drinking a potion he made in his lab that had been built in his house.

"It's nice that it's actually interesting to read, I don't think I could stand studying another dull book like our last one" Bella said, sighing at the thought of their previous book.

"Ugh, I know, Of Mice and Men was soooo boring" Hyde growled. He was about to make a comment on just how dull Of Mice and Men was, when the sound of a slightly dodgy run through of Greensleeves echoed from Jekyll's room to Hyde's. Hyde whipped his head round towards the closed door of Hyde's bedroom, as if Jekyll had opened it and was in the doorway. Both were silent for about 2 bars of the piece, until an excited smile slowly crept up Bella's face. Hyde turned back to the laptop on his knees and confusingly glared at the screen.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Is that…your brother?" Bella grinned.

"No, it's your mum" Hyde snarled, glaring at Bella's image before rolling his eyes and saying in an exasperated tone, "Yes it's my brother. He wanted to learn how to play the flute so he can be in the school band". Bella laughed.

"How cute! I love your brother, he's adorable" Bella purred. Hyde couldn't help but smile proudly. "Let me compliment his playing, he's not that bad" Bella requested, batting her eyes, pleadingly. Hyde chuckled slightly, picking up his laptop and standing from his bed.

"Fine, you can tell him how wonderful he sounds" Hyde said, with a slight sarcasm to his tone of voice. He opened his door and walked to Jekyll's room, across the hall. Bella tutted.

"Don't be so mean! For a beginner he's got a lovely tone" Bella scolded, frowning disapprovingly at Hyde, who laughed back before knocking on Jekyll's door. A nervous-looking Jekyll opened the door, clutching his shiny silver flute in one hand.

"You haven't come to tell me to 'shut up' again, have you?" Jekyll asked nervously.

"No, Bella heard you playing and…well, she'll explain" Hyde said, spinning the laptop in his hands so the screen faced Jekyll.

"I just want to say you sound lovely when you play" Bella said, smiling. Jekyll's face went red.

"T-t-thanks Bella, I've been, uh, practicing a l-lot" Jekyll stammered, dropping his head slightly and grinning shyly.

"Well it's payed off!" Bella said, putting her thumbs up. Hyde laughed slightly at how charming his brother was when he got nervous.

By late November, Jekyll's flute teacher suggested that he joined the school's concert band, as he had managed to learn so quickly. So, on a Wednesday lunchtime, Jekyll attended his first concert band practice, but it wasn't as good as he expected.

Hyde came home later than usual, and was surprised that he couldn't hear Jekyll playing his flute. He sensed that something was up. He strode up the stairs to his brother's room and knocked on the closed door. A sad and dispirited-looking Jekyll opened it. Hyde face fell into one of mild concern at the sight of his brother looking so crestfallen. The normal excited and intrigued light that usually radiated from Jekyll's eyes was dimmed, almost non-existent. A gloomy atmosphere seemed to emit from the room behind him, like he had been miserable the whole time that he had been at home from school.

"What's up?" Hyde asked, frowning. Jekyll's eyes dipped from his brother's.

"Well, I walked into the practice room, and I didn't know the teacher conducting, and she asked me whether I'd done any grades, to which I replied no. She said I could have a go but I might struggle and…" Jekyll trailed off, reluctant to relive whatever he experienced, like a horse skidding to a halt in front of a hurdle, sticking it's nose down to the floor in refusal.

"Aaaannd?" Hyde prompted, raising his eyebrows.

"And…I couldn't play a single thing! It was way too hard, I didn't know the really high notes, there were some things written on the sheet music that I didn't understand and everyone was better than me…it was pointless to go" Jekyll answered, head drooped, facing the floor. Hyde bent down on one knee to Jekyll's level, pulled his brother's head up so dimmed eyes met dark eyes, and Hyde grinned confidently.

"Rubbish."

"Wh-what?" Jekyll murmured.

"I said, rubbish. You are always too hard on yourself. This was your first time playing in a band and it's a completely different experience to what you are used to. So, keep going and you'll get better, like you got better at playing by practicing every day! That's how all of those other players in the band got to the level that they are at now. You see what I mean?" Hyde said as gently as he could, one hand resting on Jekyll's shoulder comfortingly. Jekyll nodded slightly and looked to the side, eyes slowly getting brighter as he thought about what Hyde had said and his confidence gradually returned to him. He turned to Hyde, bright eyes once more brimming with the glittering excitement and motivation that they contained when Jekyll first started to learn the flute. The return of Jekyll's normal brilliant gaze seemed to warm Hyde's cold-blooded heart, and a grin crept up Hyde's face as he stood up and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, you're right. I've given up too quickly…I need to keep trying. I'll ask the others for help if I get stuck and…thank you" Jekyll said, beaming up at Hyde and hugging him. Hyde arms whipped up into the air in protest, as well as rolling his eyes.

"Don't get all sentimental with me now" Hyde growled slightly, but he couldn't help but be amused at his brother's new found confidence. Hyde gently pulled Jekyll's arms from around his waist, turned him around and pushed him into his room, Jekyll's face still lit up.

"Go practice and get better, but not too loudly because I'm going to be doing homework and I need to concentrate".

"You? Doing work? Suuuure…" Jekyll teased, picking up his flute case from under the bed and opening it. Hyde growled.

"Yes I am, I've got exams this year! Now shut up and play" Hyde snapped, walking out the room and closing the door behind him, before he changed his mind about motivating his younger brother and said something horrible. From then on, Jekyll went to concert band practice every week, and according to him, he slowly got better and he gradually was able to play more and more of the pieces that the band were playing.

Jekyll had some down moments throughout the year, where he gave up, didn't believe in himself and thought that he would never be as good as the other flautists in the band, but Hyde was always there to pick his younger brother back up again as best as he could. Hyde would always knock on his door or see Jekyll sulking at the bus stop, and every time Hyde would recite the same speech, even if the order of the words were different each time. He would tell Jekyll about how much he believed in his little brother, about how Bella always loved to hear him play, about how if Jekyll kept aiming for his dreams and never gave up he would achieve them. After Hyde would recite this speech, the excited and eager light would return to Jekyll's eyes, and radiate all the hope and motivation of the world, like two small stars shining brighter than any other. Every time Jekyll's face would spread into a wide grin of joy and pride, and every time he would thank Hyde for being there and cheering him up. When seeing this warm grin, Hyde always had to smile with him, and was proud of himself for being able to be nice and to say nice things, for once.

During the summer term one day, when Hyde had finished all of his exams and stayed at home lounging around or out with Bella, Jekyll came rushing home from school to inform the family that the school's Summer Concert was the next week. He excitedly handed them all a leaflet and pointed joyously at his name that was listed in the many names under the title, 'Concert Band'. Hyde didn't think it was _that_ exciting but he still acted happy when Jekyll showed him.

"See I told you that you'd make it" Hyde said with a knowing grin, ruffling Jekyll's hair in the process.

Hyde reluctantly went to the concert with the family and tried to hide his face from the teachers as he walked in and through the school to the main hall. Unfortunately, the head of music (who Hyde didn't exactly have the best relationship with) was striding hurriedly past the group down a corridor, looking flustered, when she noticed one extra unexpected member of the family cowering behind his parents.

"Hyde! What a surprise to see you here! Come to watch your brother I presume?" she chirped, stopping suddenly to address the bothered teen.

"Yup, he is my brother after all" Hyde drawled, coming out from his hiding place, gritting his teeth slightly.

"Ah that's good! Now, please don't break any chairs and put a smile on your face, there's going to be some wonderful music tonight!" she replied in a mock-cheery tone, and quickly turned away and continued to stride down the corridor after catching a glimpse of Hyde's face after the chair comment.

"Miss, that was one time!" Hyde bellowed down the corridor to the teacher at the end of it, dark eyes glinting with malice. "Ugh I hate her" he snarled, raising his shoulders as the group continued down the hallway, Hyde's mother muttering angrily to him to behave himself while Jekyll sniggered behind him.

"Yes _mother_ " Hyde spat quietly through gritted teeth, when his parents were out of earshot.

Jekyll went upstairs to the music department to join the rest of the students performing, while Hyde and his parents walked into the main hall and seated themselves near the front, Hyde walking behind them with hunched shoulders and hands stuffed grumpily into the pockets of his jeans. After sitting down, he pulled out his phone and began having a text conversation with Bella, which mostly consisted of Hyde complaining about going to the concert and Bella telling him off. When the lights dimmed and the teacher they'd seen in the corridor clopped up onto the stage in her heels, a hand from Hyde's right snatched the phone from his hands and turned it off. Hyde pulled a face and snarled, teeth showing and dark eyebrows falling over brooding and angry eyes. He recoiled this gaze quickly, when his mother returned with one much fiercer than his own. She was the only person who could make Hyde shrink back in fear like this.

Hyde dully sat and watched each act perform, clapping lazily after each one. They ranged from a small year 8 girl playing a slightly dodgy solo on the clarinet, to a large jazz band that contained trumpets, trombones and saxophones of all kinds. Concert band was the last act to perform, and Hyde's eyes searched for his brother as all of the participating students walked onto the stage. He found him, looking scared to death and perching on the end of one of the chairs in the flute section, surrounded by girls in older years, one of whom Hyde recognised as being in his year. Jekyll turned to the audience, looking around for his family. Hyde waved, but just as Jekyll caught his eye their view was blocked by the buttocks of the head of music, who was the teacher that conducted the band. Hyde growled, but quickly stopped when his mother dug her elbow into his ribs.

 _I've come all this way and suffered through all of this to watch my brother, and he is blocked by the butt of the worst teacher here,_ Hyde thought furiously, glaring up at the conductor with a burning hatred gleaming in his dark eyes.

Concert band played three pieces, all varying in style. Hyde tried to pay attention, but by the last piece he only payed attention when the flutes were playing, and even then, he couldn't look at his brother because of the conductor. When they finished, Hyde clapped a little more enthusiastically, partly because his brother had played, but mostly because it was the end and he could go home to sleep.

When he had cleaned and packed his flute away, Jekyll bolted out of the music room and rushed down the staircase to the main hall, overwhelmed with happiness and pride. He sprinted over to a miserable and sleepy Hyde and collided into him, flinging his arms tightly around his older brother. Hyde was nearly barrelled over in surprise at the small bundle of emotion, and as usual, his arms instantly shot up into the air when Jekyll hugged him.

"You were right! You said the whole time I could do it and I did! Thank you" came a muffled ecstatic voice from his chest. Hyde saw the warm smiles of teachers around the room looking at the pair and he began to shrink with embarrassment.

"Yup, I did, and now look what you've accomplished" Hyde replied, hastily trying to peel Jekyll off of him, panicked eyes darting to and fro from the teachers to Jekyll.

"Nope, my arms are staying here" the muffled voice sang, as Jekyll only tightened his grip on his brother. Hyde sighed, realising that he wasn't going to win this fight.

 _If you can't beat them, join them,_ Hyde thought as, for the first time, he wrapped his arms around Jekyll, as best as he could, in an embrace.


End file.
